Abstract

Coupled migration of water and heat is one of the core problems in studying the frost-heave and thaw-weakening problems in cold regions. Determination of the hydraulic conductivity of frozen soils is the key to understanding this process. The hydraulic conductivity of a frozen soil is related to the liquid water flow in pores among soil solid and pore ice, which differs from the hydraulic conductivity of an unfrozen soil. This study develops a new hydraulic conductivity model for frozen soils based on the Kozeny-Carman equation, which is consistent in form with the hydraulic conductivity model of unfrozen soils. The proposed model is validated against existing models and measured data in the literature. Parametric analysis of the model shows that the unfrozen water saturation and shape coefficient ratio are important parameters that affect the hydraulic conductivity. In addition, the proposed model can be simplified to a power function, which is very easy to use. The new model only requires one fitting parameter and has a clear physical basis.

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